Lent 4- Christ’s Love our Calling #3 - March 14, 2010 - Kieth Bernard Kuschel
St John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church - 410 Hwy NN West - Mukwonago, WI 53149
Ephesians 3:14-21
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Do any of you play hide and seek? How do you play?
Do we play hide and seek from God? When?
Does God play hide and seek from us? No. He wants us to seek Him and He wants us to find Him.
Where do we find Him? What do we find out about Him?
Love take time to seek God
I. Who makes us strong
A. Physical strength is wonderful
1. Olympic ice skaters
2. High school athletes
B. Emotional strength is wonderful
1. Support accident victim
2. Keep relationships productive
C. Strength of faith
1. Faith defined
2. Strength needed or faith lost
D. Source
1. God
2. Through Word
II. Who makes us rooted and established in love
A. Examples
1. Trees rooted during hurricane
2. Houses founded on stable ground
B. Love makes world go around
1. Relationships work
2. 2 Biblical directives
C. Paul prays for love
1. Christ’s love
2. Surpasses knowledge
D. We want good life
1. Only if like Christ’s love
2. Motivated by Christ’s love
IA1 How many of you watched the winter Olympics? What was your favorite sport? I like figure skating. Why? Because I can’t believe that people with normal sized bodies can be that strong. You know the hockey players are going to be strong. They are big. But you have these short, petite women and normal sized men whose legs are so strong that they can catapult them into the air and do all sorts of gyrations. Physical strength is a wonderful blessing.
2 When I played basketball in high school, basketball players were considered to be the wimps. You know who were the real men? The high school wrestlers and football players. Things have changed. Have you looked closely at the arms of the men who play college basketball? They are huge. Physical strength is a wonderful blessing.
B1 So is emotional strength. Life is filled with bumps in the road. When a loved one has had a debilitating car accident, what do other people often say, “You need to be strong for that person.” Why? Because that person who needs to be able to lean on you to help him or her get through things. That person doesn’t need to have you melting into a little puddle and add to their already heavy burden. Emotional strength is a wonderful blessing.
2 Relationships are filled with barriers and hurdles. We can easily get dragged into something that we know is not good for us or for anyone else. We tell ourselves, “I need to be strong, otherwise this is going to become a disaster. Why? Because we know that the other person in the relationship doesn’t have to strength to stand up for what is best for everyone involved. Emotional strength is a wonderful blessing.
C1 St Paul was praying that the Lord would give the people in the Christian congregation in the city of Ephesus strength. “16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Paul wasn’t asking for physical strength or emotional strength. He was asking God to give these people strength, 17"so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Christians by definition believe that Jesus is the Christ, the One commissioned by God to die to wash away sins, to live to cover with righteousness, and to rise to give eternal life. Paul describes that belief with the words “Christ dwelling in our hearts through faith.”
2 Why does Paul want strong faith for us? Why do we want strong faith for ourselves? Because we know that if it isn’t strong, it is weak. And if it is weak, it can become inoperative. And if it becomes inoperative, it might go away altogether. When that happens, it usually sounds like this: “I am pretty self-sufficient. Some people seem to need Jesus. But I am good to go the way I am.” And with that attitude, we let go of our hold on the forgiveness Jesus won on the cross, the holiness that He lived in my place, and the eternal life that He wants to give me because of His resurrection.
D1 Where do we get that strength that we need? From God. That’s why Paul prays that God may strengthen you. Can God give us the strength that we need? Look at vs 20: Paul describes God as “him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” Why can He do that? Because “His power is at work within us.” Or to go back to vs 16: “he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit.”
2 If you want strong legs like figure skaters, do squats. If you want strong arms and upper bodies like wrestlers and basketball players, do bench presses. If you want strong faith so that you keep trusting that Jesus lived and died and rose for you and so that you can get through all the difficult times in your life, you must take time to seek God so that He gives it to you. Does that mean just sitting and asking God for it? No. How does the Spirit work strength of faith in us? Through the words and promises of God. You want strength of faith so you are going to spend eternity with the LORD? You want strength of faith to get through the difficulties of life? If you really want that, are you reading your electronic devotions or Meditation or Bible every day so that God can do what He is capable of doing? Giving you strength.
IIA1 How many of you have ever experienced a hurricane? There were several when I lived in CT. I think the most amazing thing that I learned during the hurricanes was about trees. We had 75 ft tall trees in our yard. Very skinny, because they were right next to each other. Pretty dense woods. During the hurricane most of them bent over so they looked like small letter r. They stayed like that till the wind died down. When the wind died down they stood up straight again. How could they do that? Root system.
2 What is the most important part of a building? The foundation. Why? Because if it is no good, no matter how strong the rest of the building is, the building will start breaking up. If any of you have ever been to Alaska, you have seen how that works. If permafrost has been broken into and a house is built there, the ground underneath will just let go, and the building will collapse. The foundation has to be firmly established on something solid.
B1 Some of you have heard the phrase “Love makes the world go round.” That has basis in Biblical reality. Love in the Bible is “action done to benefit.” How does the world keep going? Only if people can have and continue relationships that work. How do relationships work? Not when everybody is selfish. But when the people attempting to create or maintain a relationship do what God says, “Live your life for the benefit of the other person.”
2 Some well known directives from the Bible. “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” Love means the willingness to give up everything one has and even one’s own life for the benefit of your marriage partner. Then the world goes around. The marriage works. Here is an even harder one. “Love your enemies.” People who don’t like you and are out to get you. People whom you don’t like and are not in your support group. We are to do things that are beneficial for them when given the opportunity. Then the world goes around. There is no active hostility at least from your end in your part of the world.
C1 And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Paul comments that these Christians have their roots deeply and firmly embedded in love and that they have their foundation firmly establish in love. But notice He is not thinking about the love that most people think makes the world go around. He is not thinking about the love that humans produce that makes relationships work. Whose love is he thinking about? Christ’s love for us.
2 Did you notice Paul asked God for something for the us which he says in impossible? “And I pray that you,.... 18may have power,....., to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.” He is asking God to give us the power to know something that surpasses knowledge. Think about God’s love for us in Christ. He wanted so much to benefit people who by nature hate Him that He took on Himself our humanity, lived and died and rose for us so that we might have forgiveness, righteousness and eternal life. That love boggles our minds. It is beyond our comprehension. It surpasses knowledge.
D1 All of us want the good life. A major part of that good life is to have good relationships with the people around us. How is our root system going to be so embedded in love and our foundation laid in love that we are going to be willing to give up our lives for those we love and doing beneficial things for our enemies? Only if we become more and more like our Savior Jesus. To use Paul’s words, only if we “are filled to the measure of the fullness of God.”
2 What motivates us to want to love others? What motivates us to want to be like God? “Grasp(ing) how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” How do we even seek to know the “love that surpasses knowledge?” By being constantly reminded of it. You want to be rooted and established in love? You want love that makes the world go around to make your life go around? If you really want that, are you reading your electronic devotion or Meditation or Bible every day so that God can do what He is capable of doing? Keeping you rooted and established in the love of Christ.